WN: Lieberman to Clinton: Settlement freeze not an option - Jerusalem

[WorthyNewsBot]

Sharp differences remained between the US and Israeli positions on key issues Wednesday following Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's first meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington.

http://www.worthynews.com/top/jpost-com-se...rticle-Printer/

[O'Dannyboy]

This is the one issue, with regards to Israel, that I cannot side with Israel on. In the name of peace they should not be creating or supporting settlements, not to mention expanding them, in either Gaza or the West Bank. While I agree this land, by all rights, belongs to Israel. Even so, if Israel is not willing to go all out and take it ALL back by force then their settlements and their expansion only serve to aggravate the situation. If they truly wanted peace, regardless what the enemy is doing, they would not be trying to justify antagonizing them further by settling land that the "world community" agrees belongs to the Palestinian people.

All this time I have been accusing the Palestinians of poking the lion but it seems Israel is doing a similar thing by encroaching on "Palestinian" land. Let's put it this way. In my mind it's less to do with the land and more about Israel's willingness to keep to themselves. They build these huge walls to keep themselves safe and then contradict themselves by wading off into Palestinian controlled lands in an act of sheer defiance and daring. Either they want peace or they don't. Either they want the land or they don't. All this dancing on the edge of a knife is making me ill.

[hupo]

while I could agree with you on the need to stop poking the Palestinians, as you put it

It must be understood that so far, whenever we left an area (Lebanon, Gaza) we wound up with rockets landing ever closer to our civilian settlements

Gaza belongs to the Palestinians at least in the eyes of "world community". Our right-winger Sharon was the one who decided we will leave it to the Palestinians, and the results were rockets landing everywhere which only cooled down after we used the army. Same happened in Lebanon. We left there after 18 years and got the Hisbollah as neighbors, who got us to use the army again after their provocative attacks and kidnapping

The Fatah don't seem to be able to control the Hamas and leaving the area would just set up another militant group, right outside Jerusalem

Non of the groups are willing to declare our right to have a state of our own, yet demand a state of their own

Do you really believe there is ONE country in the world who would allow this?!

I find the world pretty hypocritical with this, or maybe just selfish

Indians in the US are in reservations. Aborignies in AUS got a big "sorry" from the PM and so on down the list of "enlightened" countries

and Obama is now cooling things down with Islam at our expense? Come on!!

[O'Dannyboy]

I sympathize with Israel. If they wished to reclaim all their land from the Palestinian interlopers they would be accused of Genocide and the world would rally against them. But, if they are so concerned with what the wold thinks then why would they risk justifying arguments made against Israel?

[nebula]

Danny -

You'd have a point if there was a single thing Israel could do to gain world approval other than dropping dead.

[georgedrw81]

There are allways pro and cons about the settlements.The reasons that each have could be valid but they are not theirs.Like many places in the world there is allways intereference from 3rd parties.It is not possible for someone that sits far away - in this case israel and west bank - and does not live there either to solve or have solutions. It is not the same to stay in a country for a few days and actually living in it.

Clinton lives in DC she does not worry of any hamas rocket or an israeli airstrike.The mothers with their children living in israel and west bank do.

Blessings

[Guest yod]

Danny, have you ever been to Israel?

it's a very small place. You can drive to any of the inhabited parts of Israel in 2 hours.

It's about an 8 hour drive through the Judean desert to get to Eilat on the Red Sea but most of the population lives within an hour of Jerusalem/Tel Aviv or Tiberias/Haifa

Where do you propose they live when that small space is consumed by houses already? These so-called "settlements" are nothing more than housing developments that families need to have a place. It's very expensive to live in Jerusalem so they, like most Americans, move to the cheaper housing in the suburbs. The only problem is that jews aren't supposed to live...especially not if the city is expanding.

To call these neighborhoods "settlements" makes it sound like some kind of sinister plot but it's just families looking for living space.

Why anyone would believe people that train their 6-year old children how to shoot rifles and make bombs is beyond me. Their hatred drives their lies.

Most Palestinians suffer their own brutal tribal leaders much more than they suffer from Israelis who live on the outskirts of a growing city.

Lieberman is right in saying that NO ONE has the right to tell Israel where they can or can't live in their own country. Not Hamas, not Fatah, not Hezbollah, not Eygpt, not Saudi Arabia, not Jordan, and NOT AMERICA EITHER.

[O'Dannyboy]

Lieberman is right in saying that NO ONE has the right to tell Israel where they can or can't live in their own country. Not Hamas, not Fatah, not Hezbollah, not Eygpt, not Saudi Arabia, not Jordan, and NOT AMERICA EITHER.

No argument here. I guess I continue to hope against hope that there were still some way that Israel and the Jews could influence world opinion for the good. Alas it seems that the world is effectively against Israel and that Israel is virtually alone in it's fight to exist. While our leaders all seem to claim to support Israel it seems when you read between the lines our government is all but trying to blackmail Israel into submission. Even so I have a hard time believing that Israel would even allow itself to be manipulated so.

[BlindSeeker]

Danny -

You'd have a point if there was a single thing Israel could do to gain world approval other than dropping dead.

You are right Nebula.

All the peace talks of leaders of the world is soiled with selfishness and pride and can never bring anything good or lasting. The opposition is spiritual and cannot be resolve with logic or concession.

There will never be peace in Israel till Jesus comes and establishes it with the destruction of His enemies.